120 A DISTRICT HOSPITAL: ITS CONSTRUCTION AND COST. 



cubic feet. It should not fall below this proportion ; but it might 

 exceed it without harm, except in elevated districts, where if it 

 were greatly larger, some difficulty in keeping the rooms warm in 

 winter might be felt. In the female ward it is necessary to 

 introduce four high lights, measuring 4 feet by 3, of which the 

 sill is 7 feet above the floor ; it not being convenient to introduce 

 more windows of ordinary construction than are shown. One of 

 the windows in all the wards is a French light to give access to the 

 verandah. All windows and transoms should be made in leaves 

 or panels to open inwards from the bottom bar ; they should not 

 be centred so as to fall partly inwards and partly outwards. The 

 latter plan prevents the adaptation of a good water-bar, which on 

 the former may be made much more nearly continuous and more 

 effective, not merely against rain but against drafts too. 



Drainage. — All waste pipes, from the lavatory basins, slop-sinks, 

 bath-trays, scullery, and the like should open on the outside of the 

 building over yard gullies ; while conveying the slop-water to the 

 drain, they are thus cut off from connection with the latter. The 

 only foul air they can introduce to the building, therefore, is that 

 which may •be drawn from the short length of piping between the 

 sink and the gully ; and in order to stop this, suitable S or P 

 bends should be introduced. The gully over which the scullery 

 waste discharges should be a grease-trap. The drain from the 

 several gullies to the main outfall drain, as well as the latter should 

 be very carefully graded, and set in cement ; the joints should be 

 gone over with the trowel internally so as to keep the interior 

 smooth. They should be laid on such a foundation as will prevent 

 sinking and consequent opening of the joints. After the branch 

 drains have all come in to the main drain the apparatus known as 

 an automatic flush tank should be introduced in the latter. Its 

 capacity, whether for the full sized building or the part plan, may be 

 about 25 gallons. This will secure several discharges during each 

 day; theobjectof this apparatus being to reserve the slop-water until 

 such an amount has accumulated as shall be sufficient to thoroughly 

 flush the outfall drain, by causing it to run full bore and with a 

 rapid stream, and yet not to reserve it long enough for putrefaction 

 to set in. The main drain should run to a small plot of ground 

 placed as far from the building as convenient ; and should there 

 discharge into a transverse trench leading from which several 

 irrigation channels 6 or 8 feet apart have been cut. By a little 

 management the stream may be conducted into one or other set 

 of these furrows, by which it will be absorbed ; and the intervening 

 soil may be cultivated. In some situations it will doubtless be 

 necessary to underdrain the area chosen for irrigation, and for 

 this purpose the drain- tiles should be two feet deep. The effluent, 

 if any one patch of the area be not over-worked will be bright 



